


the girl with the raven tattoo

by oddlysimplelies



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, I can't write smut btw, I'm Bad At Tagging, Minor Hizzie, posie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-04 15:37:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18346595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddlysimplelies/pseuds/oddlysimplelies
Summary: No. This can’t be happening again. How is this happening again!?Penelope sprints out of the cabin, crashing through the woods. She needs to find someplace she can breathe, someplace she can scream. This war has taken everything from her: family, friends and now it was about to take away the girl she loves.//Inspired by Lizzie's third wish.





	1. one.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so please be gentle. 
> 
> Just to be clear, this takes place during the dystopian au of Lizzie's third wish, but the story is my original work (with hints of the show woven into it).
> 
> Also this: ~*~*~*~ means that the story is jumping to a different scene. It's not all going to flow together just fyi.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Give me a boost.”

Josie cups her hands together, forming a stepping stone for her sister to use. With a little help, Lizzie scales the wall with ease, wedging herself on the second story windowsill of the Salvatore Boarding School. Leaning over the edge, she offers a hand to her twin, pulling the latter up to her level.

“Easy peasy,” Lizzie grins.

“That was only the first step. We still have to get inside and somehow find dad, completely undetected.”

“I doubt anyone’s even here Jo. This place has been abandoned for months since the war broke out. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to come back here, it’s basically a supernatural graveyard.”

“Dad said there were powerful magic signatures coming from the school, so clearly somebody must’ve been here.”

Lizzie huffs, she knows her sister is right. They can’t afford to be seen, especially by their enemies. Together, they place their palms against the glass pane and mutter a silent spell. The window unhinges and they catch it before it falls. Climbing inside, they find themselves in a familiar room.

“Holy shit, what are the odds?” Lizzie moves across their old dorm to a rotting closet. Opening it and brushing away the cobwebs, her old school uniform hangs untouched. Josie on the other hand was far less interested in left behind clothes. Getting down on all fours, she tries lifting the floorboards. They don’t budge. Tugging at one after the other, finally, a board comes loose. Pulling it away, she spots it: a shoe box. She lifts it out and blows the dust off the top. While at first glance it didn’t seem like much, this box was priceless to Josie. For inside it contained some of her most precious items and memories. 

Opening it, she was greeted by a stack of Polaroid photos. The top one was a picture of her family. Alaric and Caroline, side by side, each of them had a hand on their daughter’s shoulders. It was one of the few rare pictures they had of all of them together. When they were a normal family. Underneath it was a photo of her and Penelope. It was taken long before the fighting broke out between the humans and the supernatural, back when the two of them could go on coffee dates or spontaneous road trips without the fear of being shot at or worse, being captured and tortured, even experimented on. 

Josie remembered her mom taking this on her and Lizzie’s birthday a few years ago. They had gone a little over the top with the dance floor and the lights, but Lizzie had insisted on it being the biggest, most badass party the Salvatore students had ever seen. And she did not disappoint. They danced, they sang and they drank into the early morning. To be completely honest, Josie doesn’t remember much from that night. But she does remember one dance. The DJ had put on a slow song and she recalled a pair of arms wrapping around her waist, spinning her around. 

“May I have this dance Ms. Saltzman?” Penelope had asked. Josie grinned, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s neck.

“You may Ms. Park.” She felt hands go to her waist as they swayed gently to the music. Josie touched her forehead to Penelope’s and closed her eyes, allowing herself to just be in this all-too-perfect moment.

“Happy birthday Jojo.” 

In the distance, she heard the snap of a camera.

Josie’s heart aches at the memory of simpler times. Penelope Park. After everything they’d been through, a smile still tugs at the corner of her mouth and her heart skips a beat when she hears that name. But it disappears as quickly as it appeared. When she had left to go with Lizzie on a go-for-broke rescue mission to find their father, she had also shattered the heart of the girl she loves.  _ It’s not like you would understand, Satan. _ Lizzie’s words echoed through her mind. Why had she stayed silent? 

“Those bastards ruined my favorite top!” Lizzie complained, drawing Josie’s attention away from the memento to a torn blouse that dangled from her sisters hand. She shut the lid of the box, she would go through the rest of them when they made it back to camp. And she would apologize to the girl who’s heart she broke. She would apologize for everything. 

“Come on Liz, we shouldn’t stay here too long.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

**36 hours earlier…**

 

Josie blinked the sleep from her eyes. Morning light streamed in from the single, small window in the cabin. Josie tried to shift onto her back, but a koala or rather a clingy, raven-haired witch, prevented her doing so. Penelope was still fast asleep, arms wrapped around Josie’s stomach, her front pressed into the other witches back. Josie relished these small, intimate moments and on normal circumstances she would stay here until her girlfriend awoke on her own. But today was Strategy Day. Josie would spend the entirety of the morning and afternoon with her father, mother, Lizzie, Dorian, Emma, Raf and Kaleb, reviewing their supply stock, taking requests from other resistance members and plotting their next camp move. It was going to be a long, trying day and Josie wanted more than anything to remain in bed with her beautiful, sleepy, koala girlfriend.

“Pen,” she whispered squeezing her arm gently, “Pen. Penelope.” She heard a small groan and felt the body behind her shift around before pulling Josie further into her.  _ Not helpful. _

“Hey, I need to get up. Can you let me go, pretty please?”

“No,” a tired, muffled response comes from behind, but she loosens her hold anyway, allowing Josie to turn around completely and face the raven-haired beauty. Penelope still had her eyes closed, but she wasn’t fooling anybody. She never was much of a morning person. Josie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, before letting her fingers fall to her neck, tracing the outline of a raven tattoo. The most entrancing pair of green eyes opened and stared into her brown ones.

“Hi there sleepyhead,” Josie cooed, placing a kiss on her forehead. Penelope smiled sleepily and Josie nearly melted at the sight.

“Morning, Jojo,” she yawned, “what time is it?”

“Time for me to get up.”

“Please don’t go,” her girlfriend pleaded.

“You know I have to. Today is important, I can’t have the rest of the witches thinking I’m unfit for council representative.”

“Fuck what they think. I  _ know _ what a good leader you are. You didn’t get elected based on luck.”

“No, I got elected because you persuaded everyone to vote for me and threatened to curse anyone who didn’t.” Penelope playfully rolls her eyes. She did not threaten the witches. She gently reminded them that they would all grow tails if they didn’t vote for the most obvious and qualified candidate. 

“It’s not like voting for your sister was an option.”

“And yet somehow she managed to squeeze her way onto the council anyways.”

“Well your parents are technically leading this resistance and I’ve never heard of a time when Lizzie Saltzman didn’t get something she wanted.”

Josie punches her lightly, “don’t be mean.” Penelope smirks and wriggles her eyebrows, “you love it when I’m mean.” Josie goes to hit her again, but Penelope catches her wrists and rolls them so she’s on top, straddling her waist. She leans down, capturing Josie’s lips with her own. Josie’s hands delve into Penelope’s hair, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss. The moment becomes more heated, the kisses become sloppier and their breathing becomes more rapid. Josie tugs on Penelope’s tank top.

“Off,” she says in between breaths. Penelope complies, stripping off her shirt, revealing another intricate tattoo on her side. This one was of a bare tree. It’s branches stretched up her skin and woven between them were three names: Peter, Paula and Peyton. Josie’s fingers hover over the ink, before settling on her girlfriend’s stomach, tracing lightly over her abs. Penelope shivers at the touch, bringing their lips back together. She slips her tongue inside taking Josie a little by surprise, but she quickly adjusts to it, kissing her back with just as much passion. Her fingers find the hem of Josie’s shirt and she attempts to pull it off. But due to Josie’s positioning under her, it catches on her elbow, effectively ruining the rhythm of their hot and heavy moment. Penelope can’t help but laugh. 

“I hate you,” Josie giggles, her face becoming flushed as she tries to untangle the clothing from her arm.

“I know.”

“And  _ I know _ that you’re going to be late for the council meeting, if you don’t get out from under Satan and into some actual clothes,” Lizzie’s voice hollers from the other side of the door. Penelope groans, leaning her head against Josie’s chest. This time it’s Josie who laughs.

“Why can’t I have nice things?” Penelope mumbles into the other witch’s skin.

“Sorry babe, duty calls.”

“Why can’t duty leave a message and get back to you later?”

“Penelope.”

“Fine,” she climbs off of Josie, falling on her back in defeat. She watches Josie change into the usual dark, camouflage colors of the Resistance. The twin catches her checking her out and flips her the bird.

“What!? Can’t I admire my girlfriend, the most beautiful woman in all of existence, who deserves the entire world, because her smile could literally cure cancer.”

“Nice save, cheeseball,” she slips into a pair of boots, rushes over and gives the other witch one last kiss. Penelope chases her lips when they break apart, but it’s to no avail. Josie leaves anyways.

 

~*~*~*~

 

When Josie arrives at the headquarter cabin, she is the last one there. The rest of the council is standing around the long table, already discussing their next plan. Josie squeezes between Raf and Caroline hoping to go unnoticed. Her mom gives her hand a secret, reassuring squeeze.

“So glad you could join us Josie,” Lizzie smirked from across the table.

“Elizabeth--” Alaric warns. The blond twin puts her hands up in mock surrender, trying but failing miserably, to hide the shit-eating grin on her face.

“So what did I miss?” Josie asks ignoring her sister’s comment, scanning over a large map of Virginia laid out on the table.

“I had some of my pack scout a few dozen miles past the perimeter of camp,” Raf started.

“And?”

“They’re close. We spotted a raiding party just outside Mystic Falls. At least one-- maybe two hundred soldiers.”

Josie sucked in a breath. This was not good. They had even less time than she anticipated. 

“We need to pack up camp and move as soon as possible,” Lizzie spoke what the majority were thinking.

“I agree,” Caroline nodded, “we don’t have the numbers to fight them. If we don’t move now, they’ll have us surrounded and we’ll have no choice but to surrender or die.”

A grim silence fell over the room. The thought of losing everything they worked so hard to salvage, only to die at the hands of an organization dedicated to wiping out their kind; It was a nightmare to fathom.

“Wait a minute,” it was Alaric. He’d been quiet up until now. Something didn’t sit right with him. “I know that our chances of winning are at odds--”

“That’s an understatement,” Lizzie quipped. Alaric held up his hand, silencing her immediately.

“This is our home. It’s always been our home. We planted a foundation on this land and watched it blossom into something, that at one point, I thought was unattainable. But we did it. We persevered and we did it. The Salvatore School was what brought us together, because no matter how different we were, whether we were vampire, witch, werewolf or something else entirely, we all had something in common. We are the impossible. We’re the Supernatural’s in myths and legends and together we became something more. We became a family. And I--”

A tear rolls down his cheek. Caroline takes his hand, a silent, supportive gesture:  _ it’s okay, we’ve got your back _ .

“I don’t want to lose that,” he finishes. He takes a stone and places it in the left holder of the golden scale that sat in the center of the table. The scale tilted to the left. The voting had begun. It was silent as the people in the room tried to process his powerful speech. Kaleb is the first to speak.

“We  _ are _ a family Dr. Saltzman. But families protect each other, they keep each other out of harm’s way and I’m sorry but… I don’t want to risk putting my family in danger.”

Placing his stone in the right holder, the balance evens out. Emma steps forward, placing her stone in the left holder. The balance shifts again.

“I’ve fought by your side through it all, Ric. And I’m willing to keep fighting.” 

Next comes Raf, he places it to left. Caroline goes right, so does Lizzie. Before she realizes it, Josie is the only one left. The scale is even. She is the deciding choice.

Josie holds this with a heavy heart. She understands her father’s perspective, hell he nearly convinced her to stay put and fight. But the rational side of her kicked in and she thought about Penelope.  _ I don’t want to lose that _ , her father’s words echoed through her mind. Josie felt sick at the thought of losing the girl she loved. The girl who had already lost so much. She loved her father dearly and knew how much of his life is dedicated to uniting people like her, even if he was only human. However, she also knew what the consequences would be if they stayed. 

Her stone feels heavy in her hand, but before she can make her decision, a humming sound echoes through the room. Whirling around, she spots its source. In the corner of the cabin, a large globe of the Earth, glows intensely underneath its cover. Alaric rushes over, pulling off the spread. There, in the center of Virginia, in Mystic Falls, a dot shines fiercely, indicating the presence of a powerful supernatural being. Alaric watches in awe.

“It’s coming from the Salvatore School.”

 

~*~*~*~

“Ric, you can’t be serious,” Caroline huffed, chasing after her daughter’s father as he began packing his things.

“I am.”

“Dad, this is dangerous. The Salvatore School is like a hunting ground, you could be killed or captured,” Lizzie protested.

“Which is why I’m going alone. I’m not risking the lives of my family. Smaller in numbers means I can get in and get out without having to worry about your safety.” Ric snatched his crossbow off the back of the door, stuffing his bag with extra ammo. Josie grabbed his arm, halting him from his feverish attempt at a suicide mission.

“What happens if you don’t come back?” Ric looked down into the worried brown eyes of his daughter. The thought of never seeing her again was enough to change his mind. But, he would rather be caught dead, than run, knowing he could save the life of another just like her.

“If I’m not back within twenty-four hours, pack up camp and run. Don’t look back and certainly do  _ not _ come looking for me. The globe doesn’t lie. Whoever this person is, they’re powerful. Powerful enough, that if our enemies got their hands on them, it could be the end of all of us as we know it. So please, do this for me. Run. Save yourselves.”

He wrapped her in a tight embrace, pulling in Lizzie and Caroline as well and together they all stood, enveloped in each others arms. And although Josie didn’t want to admit it, this sounded like a final goodbye.

 

~*~*~*~

 

**24 hours later…**

 

Lizzie was pacing frantically through her and her sister’s shared room. Josie sat on her bed with Penelope, nervously fiddling with her girlfriend’s hand. Her best friend MG sat on the opposite bed watching the distraught, blonde twin try to calm herself through some techniques she learned from Emma.

“Liz, it’s gonna be okay. I’m sure Dr. Saltzman is on his way ri--”

“It’s been twenty-four hours MG! There’s no reason a quick, extraction mission should take this long. He said if he wasn’t back in twenty-four hours, he was dead and we need to run.”

“He didn’t say he was dead Lizzie,” Josie muttered from the bed. She was just as concerned as her sister, but Lizzie putting false words in her head was not helping her nerves. Penelope could practically feel the tension vibrating off her girlfriend. She took Josie’s hand and gave it a quick kiss. 

“I agree with MG. There’s a lot of other reasons why Alaric’s not back yet and panicking won’t solve anything. We just need to stay cal--”

“I don’t think I asked for your input she-devil,” Lizzie spat. Josie felt the hand around hers tighten, “my dad was quite clear on his instructions. If he’s not back, then something’s gone wrong. We have to go after him.” Josie shoots off the bed, pure shock etched into her features.

“Lizzie, that’s exactly what he told us not to do!” Her sister stands her ground, challenging her.

“He’s our dad, Jo, we can’t just leave him out there to die. If the roles were reversed, he would already be looking for us.” Josie doesn’t know how to respond. She knows her sister is right. Alaric wouldn’t abandon them, leaving them like fish bait for the sharks. Penelope senses Josie’s hesitance and a cold, horrible feeling washes over her. It’s a sensation she’s all too familiar with but hasn’t felt in a long, long time.

“Josie, you can’t seriously be considering this?” She’s off the bed in an instant, at her girlfriend’s side. The other witch won’t meet her eyes.

“Josie look at me. You know the risks. You know what’s out there. Our enemy is real and if they catch you, they won’t hesitate--” she can’t finish that sentence. The thought alone makes her want to puke.

“Exactly, they won’t hesitate, which means our dad could be in serious trouble. He’s not supernatural, so they won’t kill him. But they could torture him, get information and use it to find our camp and wipe us out.” Lizzie is adamant about this, her steel gaze never straying from the two witches in front of her.

“That won’t happen,” Penelope argues, “Alaric would never give up our location, he’d die before giving them anything.”

“And I don’t want that to happen! I’m not losing my dad, not today, not tomorrow, not for a very long time.”

“Lizzie I understand where you’re coming from, I do, but you’re not thinking this through. We need to remain here, pack up camp and leave. Just like your dad told us to do.”

Now they were almost nose to nose, neither of them backing down. Josie just stood there watching two of the most important people in her life, fight over a heart-wrenching decision that would ultimately come down to her. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t pick a side because choosing would mean losing one over the other, and she didn’t want to lose either of them.

“It’s not like you would understand, Satan. I have a dad who’s alive and needs me,” her words hang in the air and it’s a suckerpunch to Penelope’s heart. They were harsh and even Lizzie looked like she regretted saying them. She knows she’s hit a sore spot. Penelope looks away, trying her hardest not to show weakness in front of the blonde twin, but she feels the waves building inside of her, like a tsunami ready to burst from her chest. She looks at Josie. Sweet Josie, the girl she loves more than anyone in the world, the girl she knows she can count on for anything. But, Josie doesn’t speak and the dam breaks. Penelope knows, she’s made up her mind.

“I’m going to find him, with or without your help. Are you with me Jo?” She asks the question, but it’s more of a demand. Penelope doesn’t want to stick around to hear Josie’s answer, so she leaves. Rushing out of the room, she feels the tsunami starting to crush against her, drowning her.  _ No. This can’t be happening again. How is this happening again!? _ Penelope sprints out of the cabin, crashing through the woods. She needs to find someplace she can breathe, someplace she can scream. This war has taken everything from her: family, friends and now it was about to take away the girl she loves.


	2. two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up right where we left off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the love! I'm excited to continue this journey with y'all. To celebrate, here's an extra long chapter.

Penelope was drowning.

 

To be exact, her lungs were drowning. The water was rising, filling up her chest, invading every space inside until it felt like she was bursting. As she raced through the woods, never sparing a second glance behind her, she felt the pressure rising. Her windpipe closed up and suddenly oxygen was a drug she needed but couldn’t have. She needed to unleash and she needed to do so somewhere safe before she hurt anybody. 

Not too far ahead was her riverbank. If she could just hold on for a moment longer, the pressure would release and the water would drain. By the time she finally reach the bank, she was choking. Penelope sank to her knees, the feeling was overwhelming. Before she even had a moment to process, the visions started to flash before her eyes. 

First was her dad. Sparring with Peter. His voice encouraging her every time she was knocked down, until finally, she had managed to pin him on his back. The look of pride on his face was seared into her brain. But it crumbled as quickly as it came, replaced with another vision. 

Cooking with her mom, Paula. Penelope had never been an exceptional chef, hell if you gave her enough time, she could probably burn water. But with her mom by her side, walking her through the steps, helping her with the correct measurements, occasionally indulging in a full out flour war, she never ruined a single meal. The memory collapsed into dust, and with it another one took its place. 

She was reading a book to her baby brother Peyton. He laid his on her chest, half listening to the story, half focusing on the steady rhythm of his big sister’s heartbeat. Penelope felt like she was having an out of body experience, watching herself make funny voices to match the characters, hoping to get a laugh out of Peyton. God, she missed his laugh the most.

The river in front of Penelope began to vibrate. Branches on the surrounding trees swayed in the windless night. Even the ground beneath her feet started to quake. Helpless, the memories of her family played before her very eyes, switching faster than somebody changing channels on a tv. It was like she was on a roller coaster that could only go down, when suddenly, the visions vanished completely and Penelope watched in horror as a new one she'd never seen before, took form. 

She felt their fingers tangled together. It almost seemed real. Josie pulled her into a soft kiss, their lips slotting together perfectly. She touched their foreheads together. Eyes closed, she prayed it would stop, because she knew this wasn’t reality. This was a trick of the mind, her mind. She felt Josie step back and she opened her eyes, watching Josie walk further and further away from her. She wanted to run after her girlfriend, but her legs remained frozen, rooted to the ground. Josie became smaller and smaller, until she was nothing at all.

 

Penelope screamed. 

 

The river parted like Moses and the Red Sea. Tree roots were pulled up as if some deity had just plucked them out of the dirt. The ground beneath her feet cracked and shuttered, and then levitated. Soil, stones and pine needles hovered off the ground, surrounding her like an aura.

Just then, her vision started to blur, close to completely blacking out. Blood streamed from her nose and the word spilled out before she could even process it. 

“ _ Icaeus!” _

Penelope barely had time to look up as a tall pine descended from the heavens, ready to crush her into the earth. If it hadn’t been for an ulterior force, barreling into her, knocking her to the ground, Penelope would be six feet under already.

 

“Dorian?” her eyes didn’t deceive her. Penelope’s former teacher was sprawled across her, shielding her from the rain of earth and needles. When the last of it had subsided, Dorian collapsed onto his back, wincing as the rubble rolled off his body. Penelope was gasping for breath, her nails digging into the ground, the faint sensation of Josie’s perfume fading into the air.

“Penelope,” Dorian manages, finally catching his breath, “I had no idea--”

“Nobody does. That’s why I come here, to let it all out… so I don’t hurt anybody,” Penelope’s voice breaks at the last part, “I must’ve lost control, I mean, I’ve never done  _ that _ before,” she nodded towards the fallen tree. Dorian rubbed his temples, still trying to process what he just saw.

“What do you think triggered it? I mean Jesus, Park, you nearly took down the entire forest. It won’t take long before people put two and two together and figure out we were here.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. It nearly broke her in half to utter the words.

“Josie left.”

“What do you mean left? Like broke up with you?”

“No I mean she left. With Lizzie. They went after Alaric. I tried to stop them, but Lizzie refused. And you know Josie, she would lay down her own life before letting anything harm her sister, so of course she went with her and I--” she broke down into Dorian’s arms. He rested his chin on top of her head, rubbing her back, whispering calming words to the girl he considered his own.

“I saw them all. Mom, dad, Peyton. Every time I close my eyes, I see them. They’re with me all the time. But when I saw Josie, I just… I lost control. She wasn’t supposed to be there with them. And I lost it, just like I lost her.”

“You haven’t lost her Penelope,” he cupped her face, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He taps the ink on her neck.

“This raven. You control it, it doesn’t control you. Do you hear me? It won’t show you the one’s you’ve lost, not unless you want it to. Your vision of Josie, it was all in your head. I know a spiral when I see one and that’s exactly what you’re doing right now. She’s not gone Penelope, so stop telling yourself that she is.” Penelope nods.  _ She’s not gone _ . Dorian gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “come on, let’s get you back to camp.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

_ Dissera Portus _ . The set of doors to the hospital wing flung open, revealing a trashed and abandoned infirmary. Beds were overturned, IV bags were torn apart, leaking saline all over the floor. Josie felt a defeated sensation creeping up on her at the sight of yet another empty room. What if her dad was really gone and this was all for nothing?  _ We should have never come here _ . 

“Okay, let’s double back, do one last sweep of the lower level and if we don’t find him then…” Lizzie faltered at the end of her plan, a dark expression sweeping over her face momentarily.

“Then what, Lizzie? What if he’s not here? He could be anywhere. He could be a thousand miles away or six feet underground and we wouldn’t know.”

“We can’t think like that Jo. Dad’s always telling us to look at the problem and see it for more than it actually is. Dad is missing, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone. No matter the circumstances, he’s never far away.”

“A locator spell,” Josie finishes the thought.

“Exactly. We can siphon magic from an item of his and track him through it.”

Josie’s heart soared a little with a feeling that could only be described as  _ hope _ . Lizzie did one last look around, making sure she hadn’t missed any signs, any clues of her father’s whereabouts. She passed by a medicine cabinet, when she did a double take. Laying on the top shelf, just within her reach, was a silver necklace. She ran her fingers over the smooth, foreign object. 

“Josie take a look at this.” She held up the jewelry for her sister to see.

“It’s a Talisman.”

“Yes I know, but whose, it’s definitely not dad’s.”

Josie shrugged, “maybe it was one of the students’ and it got left behind.” Lizzie wanted to believe that, but there was something about this necklace that made her skin crawl and her hair stand up on end. She was about to put it back, when she heard it. A whisper, floating through the air, “ _ help me. _ ”

“Josie, did you say something?” her sister frowned, shaking her head. Lizzie ears pricked up, hoping to catch the phantom voice again. And for the longest moment the twins stood in complete silence and listened. It called out again, “ _ help me _ .”

“I’m not crazy, you’re hearing that too, right?” 

Josie shakes her head again, “I’m not hearing anything Liz. What are you hearing?” 

Lizzie scanned the room once more, careful to take in every. single. detail. When she was absolutely certain there was nobody but them, she heard it a third time, “ _ inveniere potencia reparon malifica _ .”

Lizzie turned the Talisman between her fingers. It was like it was speaking to her and somehow, she understood exactly what it meant.

“ _ Inveniere potencia reparon malifica _ ,” she repeated. The Talisman began to glow, at first dimly, but as Lizzie moved towards the back of the room, the intensity increased to the point where it was almost blinding, when Lizzie hit a wall. Josie watched her twin curiously as the blonde examined the stone barrier in front of her. She ran her hand across the smooth texture before muttering another spell under her breath, “ _ phasmatos oculacs _ .”

The wall shifted, folding in on itself, revealing the entrance to a hidden passage. Josie stood with her mouth agape, “h-how did you do that?”

Lizzie held up the Talisman for her sister to see. “I don’t know, I just sort of… did it.” She motioned for Josie to follow her, “c’mon, let’s go find dad,” and they started down the corridor.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Never trust weird, foreign, magic objects, Lizzie decided with a huff of annoyance. For one, they’ll lead you through dark, sketchy, dungeon-like hallways that smelled faintly like gas station bathrooms. And two, they never have your best interests at heart. Using the glow of the Talisman as a guide, she leads them to a halt in front of what appears to be a dead end.

“Isn’t that fun? A secret passage to nowhere!” Lizzie was trying her hardest to keep her cool, but the corridor was cramped and she felt the air grow thinner the farther in they went. Josie snatched the necklace from Lizzie’s hand, much to her sister’s dismay, and held it up against the wall. The shiny object revealed a small slot embedded in the stone.

“It looks like some sort of keyhole.”

“And we don’t have a key, how convenient,” Lizzie muttered. She tried chanting another door opening spell, but this particular one seemed to have a barrier against magic. Josie studied the Talisman, her eyes darting between the necklace and the keyhole, until suddenly it clicked.

“Yes we do.”

She inserted the Talisman into the lock with a satisfying click. Once again the walls collapsed into themselves and revealed a small marble space. Hesitantly, the twins entered, eyes adjusting to the bright, fluorescent light that hung above them. Josie was the first to notice something else.

“Lizzie, look.”

IV bags filled with blood were hooked up to a patient, lying unconscious in the corner of the room. But it wasn’t Alaric. This was a young girl, around the twin’s age, with long, dark red hair and fair, pale skin. They approached her cautiously, glancing over the patient’s body for any immediate signs of injury. When they found none, they just stood and watched, waiting for her to show any sign of consciousness. She was beautiful, Lizzie thought. She put two fingers to her pulse, trying to find a steady rhythm, but stopped cold when she found nothing.

“No pulse.”

“What?”

“You heard me, there’s no pulse.”

“Do you think this is--”

“The dot on the globe, yeah, I think so.” Lizzie looked around the room, but there was nothing, no one, else in sight.

“But if she’s the supernatural dad came to find, then where is dad?”

Before Lizzie could open her mouth to answer, a loud crash sounded in the distance, followed by the barking of orders and footsteps of soldiers. Josie and Lizzie looked around the room panicked, searching for an alternate escape, but found none.

“They’ve trapped us,” Lizzie shuttered as she tried to remember Emma’s breathing exercises. As the soldiers filed into the room, surrounding them, tears began to roll down her cheeks. Her worst fear had become a reality. 

Every weapon in the room was trained on them as the twins stood in solidarity, hand in hand, unwilling to go down without a fight. But the guns never went off, the crossbows never fired. And they realized, the soldiers didn’t come here to kill them. Lizzie looked behind her at the comatose girl. They’d come for her.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” A man stepped forward, clearly in charge of this operation, “Riddle me this, a couple of witches and a dead girl walk into an abandoned school.” This elicits a laugh from some of the other soldiers.

“I think that fell a bit flat. Might want to work on your humor, Louis C.K,” Lizzie spat. The man gripped his chest in mock hurt, “you have an awfully big mouth for someone in your position.”

“And you have awfully bad facial hair for a man living in current day America. Seriously, we’re not English puritans, this isn’t the sixteenth century.”

Though he laughed it off, rage shone in the man’s eyes. Josie dug her nails into her sister’s palm.  _ Now was not the time _ .

“Who are you?” he snapped.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Lizzie glared back at him. Faster than she could process, the man whipped out his pistol, aiming it straight at the infuriating blonde. Josie feared the worst. Her heart made the decision, before her head.

“LIZZIE NO!” she put herself between the two, bracing for the pain. But it never came. Instead the man just kept pointing it at them. Now he was the one leading this interrogation. Lizzie, still in shock over her sister’s sudden sacrifice attempt, didn’t notice the girl behind her begin to stir.

“If you say one more word out of line, Legally Blonde, you’re gonna wish you never pissed me off in the first place.” He waved his gun at Lizzie.

“What are your names?”

“Li--”

“Lilien!” Josie interrupted, “Dana Lilien.”

Her sister stared at her, mouth agape, offended at the mention of her former high school rival. But she quickly composed herself, understanding her twin’s tactic. The man quirked an eyebrow at Josie’s sudden outburst.

“And you are?”

This time, Josie’s brain short-circuited. 

“Penelope Park. Who are you?”

“The name’s Burr, and I’ll be asking the questions.”

He still had his gun trained on the two girls.

“Are you Resistance?”

“No,” they answered at the same time. Cover blown. Burr cocked his gun.

“I’m gonna ask you one more time. There won’t be a third chance. Are. You. Resistance?”

“You really don’t take no for an answer do you?” the girls whipped around at the voice behind them. The comatose patient was apparently no longer comatose and standing at their side. 

“Be careful girl, I can have you dead with the snap of my fingers.”

“Then let’s hope you’re a quick snapper.”

Before Lizzie could process what was happening, the girl flicked her wrists, muttering a spell under her breath,  _ Dimiterre _ . The weapon flew from Burr's hand across the room.

“Open fire!”

Lizzie pulled her sister close, this time it was her shielding Josie from the rain of bullets. But once again, harm never reached them. The redhead stood in front of them, palms up, creating a veil of protection around them. A shielding spell. They kept coming under heavy fire, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the magical aura. While they might be safe for now, Lizzie could see the spell taking its toll on the… vampire? Witch? She didn’t know what to make of the mystery girl, all she knew was she was getting weaker by the second.

“Take my hands, I can’t hold it much longer!”

The twins obeyed, taking one of the girl’s hand in their own. Their palms glowed red, siphoning the other girl’s magic, making it their own. The shield was back up at full intensity. 

“I have an idea on how to get us out of here. But you have to repeat exactly what I say.” 

The sister’s nodded in agreement and the hybrid began the incantation.  _ Imperium fluctus malleus _ . Lizzie and Josie joined in, concentrating all of their magic as hard as they could until suddenly a shock wave erupted from their conjoined hands, sending the soldiers flying in all directions, knocking them out cold as they hit the walls. The three girls dropped their hands, still in shock at the sight before them. They were alive.

“Thank you,” Josie said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“I should be thanking you. I wasn’t sure anyone would ever come. I was lucky you found me first and not them.”

“I’m Josie and this is my sister--”

“Lizzie. Alaric’s daughters,” the redhead finished. Lizzie frowned.

“Uh yeah. You know our dad?”

“We met… briefly. He came to the school looking for me, but we were ambushed. I recognized him from earlier,” she said nodding towards Burr who was unconscious on ground.

“I had been wounded even before I met your dad, but he knew of a secret room where I could remain hidden while I healed. Hooked me up to some of those bags and left. He said--” she stared at her feet, almost ashamed, “he said that he would draw them away from the school, you know create some sort of diversion. That was the last time I saw him.”

The twins were silent, trying to process this information. Lizzie was trying to hold in tears. She was angry at her dad. Not just for leaving them, but for risking his own safety for a girl he barely knew.

“Our dad risked his life coming here for you. Why? Who are you anyways? What makes you so special?” she spat. The redhead didn’t flinch at her words.

“My name is Hope Mikaelson.”

Josie’s eyes widened and even Lizzie looked a bit taken aback, though she tried to mask her emotion with a stone cold facade.

“Hope Mikaelson? As in daughter of Klaus Mikaelson?” Hope nodded and there was that look of shame, reappearing on her face.

“Your father is the reason people like Burr are hunting us. Why would our dad risk so much for you?” 

“I’m a Tribrid,” she said simply as if that would explain everything.

“Care to elaborate,” Lizzie huffed, annoyed.

“My father was a vampire, my mother was a werewolf and my great grandmother was a witch. I’m a combination of all three. Only one of my kind.”

Lizzie was about to question her again when suddenly, they heard a groan from the opposite side of the room. Burr stirred from his unconscious position, opening his eyes, grunting as he tried to sit up. Lizzie marched up to him and put a foot on his back, pinning him to the floor. But instead of looking defeated, Burr just laughed, causing Lizzie to press harder.

“Lizzie, don’t!” Josie warned, worried her sister might snap at any moment.

“Yeah,  _ Lizzie _ , listen to your friend. You wouldn’t want that kind of blood on your hands now would you?” he was mocking her.

“I think for you, I can make an exception,” she sneered. She raised her hands, ready to say the deadly incantation, when suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her back and then numbness as she collapsed. The redhead caught her before she could hit the ground.

“What did you do?” Josie asked horrified.

“Relax. It was a simple sleeping spell. She’ll be awake within the hour. Now help me carry her out.”

They both lifted an arm over their shoulders, dragging the blonde out of the room.

“The next time I see you,” Burr grunted from behind, “you’ll have a bullet in your chest. Triad will come for you and when they do, they’ll ki--”

Before he could utter another empty threat, Josie kicked him, hard, in the stomach, leaving him doubling over in pain.

“Come on,” she said to an impressed Hope Mikaelson, “I’ll take you to the Resistance.”

~*~*~*~

 

Penelope sat against the side of her and Josie’s cabin. A puff of smoke wafted from her mouth before she took another drag from a blunt. Josie always chastised this habit of hers, so she made sure to only do it in private, when Josie wasn’t around. Josie.  _ She’s not gone _ . Penelope played Dorian’s words over and over again in her head, repeating it like a mantra.

The sound of hushed voices drew her attention from her thoughts towards none other than Dorian himself and… Caroline? They both had dark expressions on their faces as they headed deeper into the woods and out of sight. Extinguishing her blunt, Penelope followed them on silent feet.

 

For a moment she thought she’d lost them. But at the sound of Caroline’s raised voice, Penelope spotted them again.

“They did what!?”

“Keep your voice down,” Dorian hushed. Penelope ducked behind a tree, training her ears on their conversation. Just a few yards away from her, a very irritated Caroline crossed her arms in disbelief.

“Penelope Park told me they took off to find Alaric. When I found her, she told me Lizzie had persuaded Josie to come along with her, something about it being over twenty-four hours?”

Caroline buried her head in her hands. “Of course she did. Josie would never refuse her sister in a million years.” In her head Penelope thought,  _ if only you knew _ . Dorian gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“Caroline, they’re going to be okay. I know the Saltzman’s, they’re all fighters. They’ll be back before you know it.”

“We can’t wait it out any longer. Ric told us to move camp without him if he wasn’t back within the next twenty-four hours. And now the girls are gone, but I can’t risk the lives of all these people. If we stay here, Triad will find us, and they will wipe us out. We need to move camp at first light. I want you to pass that on to Emma and all the other council members.” Penelope felt a lump in her throat. Leaving camp without Josie would be like an unspoken goodbye and Penelope couldn’t say goodbye, not yet. She’d said it too many times in the past and she refused to say it to her girlfriend, especially not when they had parted on such strained terms.

“What if they come back and we’re not here. We can’t just abandoned them,” Dorian argued.

“They’re smart girls, Dorian, they’ll find us.”

“You have a lot of faith in them, it’s one of the qualities that makes you a good mother.”

Caroline chuckled at the compliment, but it quickly morphed into a sob. 

“But I’m not a good mother. What kind of mother abandons their children? I’m leaving them in a world where they’re hated, where they’re preyed upon, where they could be shot at and killed, or worse, turned into some sick science experiment. What kind of mother doesn’t fight for her family? What kind of mother can’t save her own children from each other?”

At that comment Penelope’s ears perked up in confusion. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“You haven’t found a loophole yet?” Caroline shook her head, bursting into more tears. 

“They still have no idea. What kind of mother keeps a secret like that from her kids?”

“Caroline, there’s still time. They don’t turn twenty-two for another five years. You still have time to fix this. We’re all behind you, supporting your work.”

“It’s just… how do you tell them something like this? How do you tell your children that one of them is going to die at the other’s hand?”

Penelope’s head was spinning. So fast. So much at once. She was going to puke. So she did. She bent over and retched into the bushes. Caroline and Dorian’s heads snapped at the sound.

“Who’s there?”

Penelope had to cover her mouth to keep whatever remained in her stomach inside. She stood as still as possible and waited. After a moment, Dorian spoke up.

“I know the Merge is always the most important thing on your mind, but, I need to show you something that I found earlier.” 

They disappeared farther into the woods and for the first time in what felt like hours, a small sound escaped from her lips. It was a mix between a sob and a whimper. Her throat burned from the bile threatening to spill out and her heart was beating like she just finished a marathon. She had so many questions spinning in her head, she feared they might consume her. On shaky legs she stumbled out of her hiding place, chasing after them. 

 

~*~*~*~

 

Caroline stood completely frozen in shock at the scene before her. The forest lay in ruins. It was like the world’s biggest bulldozer had taken a test run and then the engine malfunctioned causing the entire scenery to explode.

“What… happened? Some sort of monster? A dragon?”

“Penelope Park,” Dorian simply answered.

“Penelope Park,” she repeated, still in disbelief, “as in my daughter’s girlfriend?”

Dorian nodded, the memories from the earlier event flooding his brain. One second, Penelope is alone, by the riverbank. The next, it’s the end of the world and all that remained was a terrified, vulnerable little girl who lost too much too soon. He told Caroline as much.

“That poor girl,” she mumbled, “no one should ever have to experience what she’s been through. And at such a young age.” 

“What are we going to do, Caroline?”

“Do?”

“You know I care about Park as much as you do, but we were lucky that she was here when she decided to go all Thanos on the wilderness. What if next time she’s in the middle of dinner, or tracking our next campout location or just sleeping in her cabin with Josie? All I’m saying is, we have to be careful. If Triad, god forbid, get their filthy little hands on her, they could exploit that power. We have to keep an eye on her because if she lets loose like this again, she could put all of us in danger.”

“I’m not going to just abandon her, Dorian. She needs us. Even if she won’t always admit it, she needs a family she can depend on.”

They stand in silence, surveying the scene before them. Caroline was teetering on the edge. The Resistance. The Merge. Penelope Park. Repeat. The Resistance. The Merge. Penelope Park. She rubbed her temples.

“God, everything is going to shit right now, isn’t it?”

“Solve one problem, there’s always a bigger one that takes its place,” Dorian reminded her, chuckling at the insanity of their predicament. Little did they know, their predicament was hiding just a few meters away. And she heard everything.

 

~*~*~*~

 

When Lizzie awoke, she was being dragged by her arms through the forest. She looked down at the dirt stains collecting on her pants. That will never come out.

“What. The hell?”

Her carrier stopped abruptly.

“Finally, you’re awake,” Hope muttered, dropping her arms, letting the blonde fall flat against the ground. Josie was at her side in an instant, gripping her hand and hoisting her to her feet.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, concerned.

“Just peachy. I love being back-stabbed, then waking up to grass in my underwear and being dragged through a forest by a stranger.”

“You’re welcome. I prevented you from doing something stupid,” Hope shot back.

Lizzie glared at the Tribrid. Josie rolled her eyes at the childishness of the two girls.

“Guys, stop fighting. We’re almost back to camp. You can sort out your differences when we’re safely out of Triad’s reach.”

 

“Josie!” The girls whips around at the familiar voice of their mother, Caroline, sprinting towards them, “what the hell were you two thinking!? I was so worried.” She scooped them into a tight embrace, holding them long enough for Hope to feel a little awkward. She clears her throat, drawing Caroline’s attention to her for the first time.

“Who is this?”

“My name is Hope Mikaelson. You’re daughters rescued me from the Salvatore School.”

“It’s nice to meet you Hope. I’m Caroline Forbes, I’m leading this Resistance. We’re happy you made it here safely.”

She gives Hope a warm smile, but it fades almost as quickly as it came when she looks around as if she was expecting someone else.

“Where is your father?” 

The girls fall silent, and a cold dreaded feeling creeps up on Caroline. Surprisingly, it’s Hope who speaks up.

“Alaric and I were ambushed by Triad when he came to find me. My wounds hadn’t fully recovered so I was only slowing us down. He hid me and created a diversion to lead Triad away from the school. But they came back. If it wasn’t for your daughters, I’d probably be dead. My best guess is that Alaric was found out and captured by Triad when they realized he wasn’t supernatural.”

Caroline sucked in a breath. One of her worst fears had become a reality. She and Alaric may not be related by marriage, but they had grown to care for each other deeply. Losing him was like losing her partner in crime, her other half. She knew he would never give them up which meant that it was only a matter of time before Triad lost their patience. He was running on borrowed time.

“Come on. We’ve just finished packing up camp. I was doing one last check around the perimeter when I found you, and thank god I did. Gather your things, we need to move as soon as possible.”

~*~*~*~

“Okay, that’s everyone,” Emma confirmed after getting the last of the youngsters into one of the old school vans. She muttered an incantation and the vehicle morphed into what appeared to be an ordinary minivan. Caroline fell in stride with her as they passed nine more identical transports.

“Good, we’re loading the last of them into van #6. Just waiting on a few stragglers, my girls included.”

As if on cue, the twins, followed by Hope, appeared, bags in hand, walking briskly towards the van. Lizzie climbed in first, offering Hope a hand and pulling her up as well. They awkwardly stepped over luggage and passengers as they made their way to the backseat. Josie hesitated by the door, before checking her luggage one last time. Her stomach flipped when she realized something was missing. Just then, a stack of paper bags appeared in front of her face. She looked up into her mother’s eyes who greeted her with a small smile.

“For your car sickness.” Josie took the bags gratefully.

“Thanks mom, I panicked there for a second.”

“I am not making the mistake of forgetting them again. That was quite the journey when you substituted them for your sister’s lap.”

Paper bags in hand, Josie boarded the bus. Making her way towards the back, she scanned the faces of the passengers, searching for a specific individual, her nerves building when she didn’t see them.

“Wait.” Josie called out to her mother, the pit in her stomach morphed into full on panic, “where’s Penelope?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Sorry about that. I'll try to make the next chapter a little lighter.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comment what you thought about this chapter, I always enjoy feedback and constructive criticism.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comment what you thought of the first chapter. I'll try and update as often as possible but there's only so much time a high school schedule will allow!


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